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Here's how you get fat...

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Started 5 months ago by Coremodels
Latest reply from ricospaz

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tdziemia
GV/Schumacher
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Chili's, Cheesecake Factory, KFC, Micky D's ... It's all total shit, and it's part of what's making America sick, poor, and prematurely dead. (Poor because of our health care entitlements and effect on our debt).

As enumerated by other posters, it's high in calories (obesity), high in refined carbs (diabetes), high in sodium (high blood pressure). No redeeming nutritional value.

I'm gonna add Starbucks to the list, too, but then admit it's my "go to" place for a small, reasonably priced dessert every now and then (read: brownie). But golook at the calories in a grande latte, even with skim milk, and you'll likely be shocked outta your mind.

But if you're reading this thread, it's preaching to the choir, right?

Posted 5 months ago #
pez

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Coremodels said:
"Most people wouldn't sit down to eat a 12-piece bucket of Original Recipe KFC all by themselves, says CSPI. Yet The Cheesecake Factory somehow crams about that many calories into a single serving of its Crispy Chicken Costoletta—though the bucket of KFC has less than half the saturated fat, "only" two days' worth as opposed to the four-and-a-half days' worth in the costoletta."

http://cspinet.org/new/201301161.html

In reality, the occasional crispy chicken costoletta is not going to make anyone fat. The long term poor nutritional and exercise choices of people are what makes them fat, this item is just an example of one of those poor decisions. I do advocate for posting nutritional information, but in the end those that are going to make bad choices will continue to do so.

Posted 5 months ago #
myliftkk
Columbus, OH
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leftovers said:
The problem is as a customer you do not really know what is going into your food. A friend who is a cook in the SN often laughs and tells me how much butter he uses. I went on a diet and he basically told me to avoid eating out.

Nor do I know what's in most grocery boxed items except that they have the most amazing chemical names. General rule of thumb: if it tastes like a stick of butter, it's probably got a stick of butter in it.

I eat to live though, and on most days that's the only reason I eat at all. If I could get away with being breatharian 90% of the time, I would do so. Eating out I do for simplicity sake, because the time cost/benefit is better for me to do so than not. I don't recommend it to people who have a habit of making bad food choices over and over, but it's completely doable to eat carryout virtually every meal (granted I eat only twice a day at most) for years and not see any noticeable difference.

Posted 5 months ago #
tdziemia
GV/Schumacher
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pez said:
I do advocate for posting nutritional information, but in the end those that are going to make bad choices will continue to do so.

Amen. My kids had the example of home cooked meals on the table most nights (despite two demanding careers), a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter, and relatively little in the way of unhealthy snacks lying around (pretzel nuggets and low fat Cheezits were the family faves). They did go through a period of excessive Gatorade consumption related to high school athletics, but as soon as they had to buy it for themselves, and saw the effect of the calories when their activity levels decreased, they gave it up. As young adults they are relatively fit (by American standards), pay attention to what goes into their bodies, and are beginning to cook for themselves.
If the parents set a poor example, the kids are almost sure to follow. That's what's been going on in Ameica for the lat two generations, and we need to find a way to stop it, before we bankrupt the country taking care of all the peventable disease that stems from poor diet.

Posted 5 months ago #
jpizzow
Above the American Apparel building
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Prepare fresh food at home on weekdays (many DO have the time but cooking seems to be a lost art), splurge once or twice on the weekend (so as not to get burnt out) and do a little exercise. Simple as that. Not too difficult. Most Americans are just too lazy and/or uneducated on how easy it is to live a fairly healthy life.

Posted 5 months ago #
tdziemia
GV/Schumacher
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You don't have time to cook if you're watching 4 hours of TV per day :-) (just to like two of America's ills.(

Posted 5 months ago #
tdziemia
GV/Schumacher
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.. oops, meant to say "just to LINK two of America's ills.

Posted 5 months ago #
Jman4ever

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My contribution to this thread.

I used to work in the corporate office at Max & Erma's and we/they were a part of the problem no doubt.

One of the founders (Barry Zacks) was ahead of his time on a number of fronts. (There is little doubt that the chains downturn began after his passing) One of his ideals was to put nutritional info on the menus. He wanted to do this in the early 80s (81 or 82) So he brings in a nutrionist to get the numbers together.

Turns out back then the lowest calorie item on the menu.

Hot Apple Pie alamode (not alamode wasn't a specifically stated menu option)

Ideal scrapped.

As far as the Cheesecake Factory goes they are a volume volume volume outfit. Their meals are typically big enough for 2 sittings at the least.

The Cheesecake Factory in Las Vegas for one New Years Eve did the same business volume($$ wise) in that day as an above average Max & Erma's does in a month. They had something like 3 shipments of food delivered during that day.

Posted 5 months ago #
pez

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myliftkk said:
Nor do I know what's in most grocery boxed items except that they have the most amazing chemical names. General rule of thumb: if it tastes like a stick of butter, it's probably got a stick of butter in it.

Or an even worse for you artificially flavored frankenbutter. Within reason, butter is actually not a bad choice compared to its substitutes.

Posted 5 months ago #
Scapino
Westerville, OH
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GCrites80s said:
I'll maintain that mandatory food labels actually made people fatter. When people grocery shop they look at the label and try to get all those numbers on the top half as low as possible. In order for them to do that, they have to take all the flavor, fullness and substance out of the food. So they eat their 172 calorie 2g of fat dinner. Then comes the 10pm pigout on ice cream and chocolate (or a late night pizza order) because they snapped from trying to survive on the bird food from earlier. And they wind up being unable to stand to eat at home often and wind up eating out all the time because they made their home food is so unfulfilling with all this "Lite" fake food.

This doesn't apply to everyone of course, but I think it's happening a lot more than people think on the surface.

A lot of that Outerbelt food is like that Cheescake Factory example. I read one of those "Eat This Not Thats" that my mother handed me to read. Some of that stuff was shocking. Good thing I don't eat Outerbelt food that often.

Let's not pretend this is limited to the poor suburbanites' chain restaurants. The chain restaurants are much more likely to have a 500 calories or less section and will be subject to mandatory disclosure of nutritional information.

Places like Skillet, Knead, Dirty Frank's, and Schmidt's aren't exactly health food, as much as I love them. Just remember that the better the food tastes, the more butter they're using.

Posted 5 months ago #
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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Serving size - witness fat-free oil:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/labels2.html

Reduction of the serving size is often used by manufacturers as a way of reducing the calories per serving. As a consequence, if the amount of fat or other nutrient falls below 0.5 gram per serving, the manufacturer may round it to zero.

Edited to add, that was Page 3 of 3 on How to Read Food Labels, here's Page 1:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/labels.html

I learned most of this from The Supermarket Handbook but the rules have changed since that was written.

Posted 5 months ago #
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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Scapino said:

Places like Skillet, Knead, Dirty Frank's, and Schmidt's aren't exactly health food, as much as I love them. Just remember that the better the food tastes, the more butter they're using.

I'd be very surprised if the most fattening goodness on Skillet's menu is even in the ball park of CCF's Bistro Shrimp Pasta.

I mean, come on, over 3000 calories in an entree?!?

Posted 5 months ago #
SusanB
Hungarian Village, Columbus' fastest growing Gayborhood!
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Menopause.

Posted 5 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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A "lunch portion" at Cheesecake Factory is easily two meals to me.

Gross.

Posted 5 months ago #
Scapino
Westerville, OH
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Coremodels said:
I'd be very surprised if the most fattening goodness on Skillet's menu is even in the ball park of CCF's Bistro Shrimp Pasta.

I mean, come on, over 3000 calories in an entree?!?

3000 calories in an entree is also an extreme example, to the point where it won this "award." Skillet probably doesn't hit 3000 calories, but the point is we don't know. Something like their chorizo biscuits and gravy, with cheesy grits on the side, probably gets close. The Skillet burger, with bacon, fried egg, and cheese, fingerling potatoes on the side, is also probably over 2,000.

The Cheesecake Factory pastas are bad, but they're not like order of magnitude bad, and most of it is just a straight quantity issue. If you make two meals of them, that's significantly better. If you're a person who can down a whole plate of that pasta and a slice of cheesecake for lunch, with a loaf of two of bread before hand, you probably can't blame those dirty Outerbelt restaurants for your weight issues.

Posted 5 months ago #
Brant
Gahanna
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Get the Flash Videos

Posted 5 months ago #
hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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So what do we do? Tax the hell out of bad food so that people cannot afford it? Outlaw bad food? Impose rigorous regulations on restaurants and grocery stores? Who are we going to hold responsible for this problem? Who are going to have enforce rules or laws like this?

I treat fast food like candy. I limit how much I have. As for Cheesecake Factory; we have had food from there once in the last year; I feasted on my single meal for several days. To be precise, I ate about half of my pasta meal for dinner the night I ordered it. The other half ended up as 2 days worth of lunches.

Posted 5 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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hugh59 said:
So what do we do? Tax the hell out of bad food so that people cannot afford it? Outlaw bad food? Impose rigorous regulations on restaurants and grocery stores? Who are we going to hold responsible for this problem? Who are going to have enforce rules or laws like this?

I treat fast food like candy. I limit how much I have. As for Cheesecake Factory; we have had food from there once in the last year; I feasted on my single meal for several days. To be precise, I ate about half of my pasta meal for dinner the night I ordered it. The other half ended up as 2 days worth of lunches.

Been saying it for years...Fat Jail, but it needs a catchier name, something french perhaps..

Palais de Laitue

Posted 5 months ago #
mrpoppinzs
Arena District
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I used to get the popcorn at movie theaters until I found out how awful it was (knew it was 'butter flavored' but didn't realize how much you could bastardize an otherwise decent item).

99% of the battle is getting some idea of what you are buying and then being smart enough to use those items in moderation.

Posted 5 months ago #
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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hugh59 said:
Tax the hell out of bad food so that people cannot afford it?

To an extent, yeah.

I choose to smoke, recognizing the risk it brings, and will never complain about the insane amount of tax piled on my cigarettes to help pay for the societal cost.

Cigarettes cost society less than obesity, so I see no reason candy or 3000 calorie entrees or sugar soda shouldn't have a similar tax.

Posted 5 months ago #